WP1 & WP2 - Management & Technical Coordination: Being a rather smaller consortium with 7 partners only, management and technical coordination has been smooth and lean. The Kick-off meeting took place on October 12, 2016, and since then, technical management team and steering committee meetings took place quarterly and biannually. In 2017 it was agreed to amend the GA for a better alignment of the task structures to the work being done, to correct some errors and to shift the dates of the deliverables and milestones to a more realistic date. In 2018 the amendment was negotiated with the JU. FFL4E received support from the OC DYNAFREIGHT with whom a collaboration agreement was put in place.
WP3 - Future Freight Locomotives focused on two technical distinct topics. 1) A detailed study with simulations for specific use cases for hybrid propulsion systems was done. Conclusions were considered also in WP4 and will be the base for further work in FR8HUB and FR8RAIL II. A paper was prepared together with WP4 and submitted for the TRA 2018 in Vienna, published as full paper and presented on podium. The results were summarized in D3.3. WP3, also evaluated different radial steering concepts and developed a prototype of the most promising one. Bogies with this technology will reduce massively wear and noise emissions. The results have been summarized in deliverable D3.1 & D3.2.
WP4 - Full Electric LM Propulsion System studied various use cases for catenary free operation in Sweden (D4.1). Important track sections were described, and it was studied what type of locomotive (hybrid and full electric locomotives with LM propulsion system), would fit best for these track sections. Based on the results of the study above and internal know-how of Bombardier Transportation, a concept and the specifications (D4.2) for a full electric last mile system has been done. A small Li-Ion battery, meant to become a building block, has been procured. Several integration and related protection concepts were evaluated and finally, as no locomotive could be provided for the demonstration, it was decided to prepare the demonstration setup in Bombardier's battery lab in Mannheim Germany (option according to the DoA – D4.3)). Also, a first safety analysis D4.2. was done.
WP5 - Long Trains started by setting up the functional requirements and, with the support of an external consultant, a safety management concept. The approach of how to perform longitudinal simulations was systematically aligned within the partners of the OC consortium DYNAFREIGHT. Furthermore, the functional breakdown structure and the interfaces between the various subsystems were defined. Important result of this project was the selection of the radio technology to be GSM-R - a standards used all over Europe, easily replaceable later on by 5G. Also, mechanical electrical and SW integration was done on the two Bombardier locomotives belonging to DBC. The systems were commissioned on test tracks. Finally, a successful demonstration was done in May & June 2019 with a 750m commercial train having the tail locomotive remote controlled. The results were summarized in the D5.1-5.5. A movie was created and will be used for dissemination activities starting form Q4/2019. The results are the base for the activities in FR8RAIL II, where the technology is further developed.
WP6 – Dissemination has increased in intensity, with the participation to various conferences and fairs, among others in 2018 TRA, Innotrans, RAILCON, S2R Midterm conference. In 2019 the project presented the results during its final conference. As most of the activities are being further pursued in FR8HUB and FR8RAIL II, further dissemination can be expected. Planned is the SFT in Dresden in 2020, the Innotrans 2020. FFL4E also expects to have see first commercial activities regarding radial steering and long train technology.
